West Australians aged 50 to 59 who have had their first AstraZeneca shot are being urged by GPs to get their second amid the changed advice for others to get the Pfizer vaccine.
Key points:
- People in their 50s are trying to switch their second COVID shot to Pfizer
- The WA chair of the Royal Australian College of GPs says it's not necessary
- The second AstraZeneca dose is much safer than the first, he says
The WA government has made the age group eligible for the Pfizer vaccine, in line with national advice.
The WA chair of the Royal Australian College of GPs, Sean Stevens, said his clinic had recorded a surge in inquiries from people hoping to change their second shot to Pfizer.
"More than half the calls that we're getting for our vaccination clinic are around people wanting to cancel their second AstraZeneca vaccine or to ask about booking for Pfizer," he told ABC Radio Perth.
ABC News: Eliza Laschon
)"I would highly encourage anyone who's due for their second dose — even if they're in that 50 to 59 category — your second dose of AstraZeneca is much, much, much safer than the first dose."
Federal Health Department secretary Brendan Murphy has pointed out there have been no cases of blood clots following second doses of AstraZeneca in either Australia.
The TGA's weekly safety report said the overall incidence of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) in the UK — following a second AstraZeneca dose — was "1.5 cases per million doses".
Dr Stevens said having AstraZeneca as a first shot and Pfizer as a second was not required.
"ATAGI [the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation], the expert committee, when they actually look at the second dose of AstraZeneca, the risk benefits come out way in favour of getting that vaccination done."
Uncertainty 'only natural'
Dr Stevens referred to the extremely low incidence of clots from the first AstraZeneca shot.
"That complication is very rare, and is exceedingly rare," he said.
"I'm 50 in a couple of months and I had my second dose of AstraZeneca two weeks ago, and I was fully confident in doing that."
He did welcome the shift to allow people in their 50s to get Pfizer.
"The government's listening to the experts on the evidence on this and the evidence is changing all the time, and these experts are meeting daily or weekly and as the evidence changed, the recommendations change, so we fully support this process," he said.
"There's been an enormous amount of questioning and a lot of communication during our consultations, a lot of uncertainty, which is only natural.
"We're asking the government to come forward and help support these conversations and help support the vaccine rollout by providing patients with the resources and subsidies to be able to have these conversations."
'Potential' for long-term protection
Professor Terry Nolan, head of the Doherty Institute's vaccine and immunisation research group, said it seemed there had been instances of blood clots from the second AstraZeneca shot in Europe.
"The European Medicines Agency has said that the rates are low," he told ABC's Life Matters program.
"But they, too, are still gathering data because ... second-dose AstraZeneca [clots] in European countries [are still in] relatively low numbers.
"It looks like the rate is quite a bit lower than the first dose rate, which makes it even rarer."
A study which is yet to be peer-reviewed has suggested a Pfizer shot following the AstraZeneca jab may provide for better immune protection.
Canada has changed its position to recommend that people who have received AstraZeneca as their first vaccine dose should get Pfizer or Moderna as a second shot.
But Professor Fiona Russell, senior principal research fellow at Melbourne University's Centre for International Child Health, said it was not certain that having Pfizer after AstraZeneca would ultimately be useful.
"Just because a booster of Pfizer following AstraZeneca gives enhanced immune responses doesn't mean that this schedule offers enhanced protection," she said.
She said two doses of AstraZeneca proved effective against hospitalisation for the Delta and Alpha strains, along with the original strain, and there was no need for "mix and match" schedules from an effectiveness perspective.
Professor Russell said it was even more unlikely for blood clots to occur after the second AstraZeneca shot than with the first.
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2021-06-18 03:55:28Z
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